The invention relates to an aerial transport system capable of carrying elements such as components to be made up, parts to be mounted or handled, etc. to different work posts of an industrial installation and also of taking them away in accordance with a prearranged or given operational sequence, and of making the appropriate decisions for predetermined events in order to take these events into account, in addition to supplying the information necessary for the control and management of the production of said industrial installation.
The system is constituted based on a transport circuit constructed with some specific tracks over which some small transport elements travel which will be referred to throughout this specification as "carts" and which constitute the support for the element to be transported. There is a series of stations all along this circuit, that are joined to the main circuit and in which the working post is located.
In the case that the invention is applied to the clothing industry, the so-called "carts" will transport, for example, hangers with the garments to be made up, the system having the capacity to recognize and send each garment to its station of destination at which the operator who will carry out his specific job will be located, with a garment travelling through different stations or work posts as it is being made up.
Although other transport systems are known which are applied to industrial installations, the system according to the invention provides two fundamental aspects which give it priority over the prior systems from the point of view of practical utilization:
(1) The mechanical and electronic devices on which the system of the invention is based provide a very simple and highly reliable construction which is, in the outcome, ideal for its control by microprocessor.
(2) The system has an "intelligence" which gives it great flexibility in the balancing of the process; in addition, it can be modified at any time, whenever convenient, given that a system of interactive control has been provided. Furthermore, the system is capable of carrying out the management of the production of the installation and of the personnel.
In general terms, the aerial transport system according to the invention is constituted by the following groups:
(a) Main circuit PA1 (b) Carts PA1 (c) Station PA1 (d) Track switch PA1 (e) Lifting system PA1 (f) Readers PA1 (g) Control card PA1 (h) Central system.
All of these groups are explained in the detailed specification given below.